Burke one win from state title

GLENS FALLS — John S. Burke Catholic coach Doug Janeczko arrived to the lobby of the Queensbury Hotel at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday for team breakfast.

JUSTIN RODRIGUEZ

GLENS FALLS — John S. Burke Catholic coach Doug Janeczko arrived to the lobby of the Queensbury Hotel at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday for team breakfast.

His players were already seated and eating. Janeczko settled in with his charges, but didn't say much to them. He didn't have to.

Burke Catholic was locked in, ready to go and less than three hours later, it translated onto the court at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The Eagles are only one win away from the Class A state championship after an impressive 68-50 win over Long Island's Amityville in the semifinals. Burke Catholic meets McKinley (21-3) of Buffalo for the title at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Glens Falls. McKinley defeated Bishop Ludden 75-61 in the other semifinal.

"We came out on fire," Burke Catholic swingman Michael Kelly said. "I definitely feel like everyone was clicking on all cylinders. Guys were hitting big shots. It just felt great to come out like that and get this win. We lost in this game last year and the seniors know how that felt. We didn't want that to happen again, so we didn't let it."

As the defending Class B state champions, Burke Catholic (19-4) walked off the famed Civic Center floor in tears last year, losing to Watervliet 48-47 in the semifinals on a last-second shot. Burke Catholic was moved from Class B to A last June after the Section 9 athletic council approved the recommendation of the non-public school reclassification committee to bump up the Eagles. In perhaps its most impressive performance during four consecutive trips to Glens Falls, Burke Catholic never trailed Amityville (21-3).

The Eagles opened the game with a 9-0 run, led 16-7 after one quarter and 34-18 at halftime. Junior Mike Coffey put up his second straight impressive performance off the bench, scoring 21 points, including 13 in the second half. He put up 19, including 15 in the fourth quarter, in Burke Catholic's 78-68 win over Maine-Endwell in the Class A state quarterfinals on March 9. Point guard Jack Dwyer added 18 points, Patrick Joyner had 12 and Stan Buczek put up eight points and 10 rebounds.

Burke Catholic broke down Amityville with its signature defense, led by a frenetic press, and unselfish basketball. The Eagles limited Amityville's best player, swingman Kavione Green, to 10 points. He came in averaging 16. Amityville pulled to within 47-39 with 6:40 remaining on a jumper by Mike Smith, but Burke Catholic answered with a 10-2 run to put away the game. Dwyer and Coffey scored five points apiece in the run.

"I'm just happy I went out there and did a good job for my team, my coaches and our fans," Coffey said. "You always just have to be ready. Coach Janeczko knows what is best for the team. I'm just going to do whatever I have to do and it feels good to help us get to the state championship. This is a dream for all of us."

In preparation for their latest Glens Falls road trip, Burke Catholic players had gray warm-up shirts that read "Burke Madness" on the front and "Final Four Tradition" on the back. With one more win on Sunday, Burke Madness could get even crazier.

"After last year, it was really hard for us to accept everything that happened," Buczek said. "We explained to players who weren't on the team last year how bad we felt. Our mentality coming back here has just been go in, be confident and win. We don't ever want to feel like we felt last year again."